Palabras populares usadas por los pacientes para describir sus dolencias

1. Verijas: Lo usan generalmente relacionado a la vejiga urinaria, no forma parte de RALE.
2. Gonces: Lo usan generalmente al hablar de sus articulaciones pequeñas, ésta palabra si es
parte existe en el diccionario de la RALE.
3. Almorranas: Hemorroides, palabra que existe en RALE.
4. Mazamorras: Generalmente utilizado para describir lesiones fúngicas en los pies, si existe en
RALE.
5. Acedo: Generalmente asociado a síntomas de dispepsia y flatulencia, también existe en
RALE.

Report New Cases of Guillain-Barré After H1N1 Flu Vaccine

September 1, 2009 — Neurologists should be vigilant in tracking any new cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome after patients have received the H1N1 flu vaccine, say officials. The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is teaming up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to make sure doctors remain alert.
Guillain-Barré has been linked to several vaccines, including the preparation for the 1976 swine flu. In a statement issued by the AAN, experts said that although they do not expect the 2009 H1N1 vaccine to increase the risk for the autoimmune disease, this is a concern with any pandemic vaccine. "The active participation of neurologists is going to be critical for monitoring for any possible increase in Guillain-Barré following 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccination," AAN spokesperson Orly Avitzur, MD, said in a news release.
The H1N1 vaccine is currently in production. High-risk groups will be encouraged to receive the vaccine this fall. Infants, children, young adults, pregnant women, adults 25 years and older with underlying health conditions, and healthcare workers are considered good candidates for the vaccine.
Doctors are being asked to report adverse events using the standard CDC and US Food and Drug Administration Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
Guillain-Barré affects 1 to 4 people per 100,000 annually around the world. It causes respiratory failure requiring ventilation in an estimated 25% of people, and between 4% and 15% die.
The AAN guidelines on the treatment of Guillain-Barré are available online.

Fuente: Medscape Medical News

FELICITACIONES A BRASIL !!!

How to shave 10 years off your life: Have high cholesterol, be hypertensive, and smoke

Sep 18, 2009 - Lisa Nainggolan

Oxford, UK - A new analysis from the British Whitehall study looking at male civil servants has found that a single measurement of three cardiovascular risk factors in middle age—smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol—predicted a threefold higher rate of vascular mortality compared with none of the risk factors.

The researchers also showed a twofold higher rate of nonvascular mortality and an almost 10-year shorter life expectancy from age 50 in those with the risk factors.

Dr Robert Clarke (University of Oxford, UK) and colleagues report their findings online September 17, 2009 in BMJ. And when they used more extreme categorization of risk factors, including body-mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus/glucose intolerance, and employment grade, life expectancy differed by up to 15 years.

Clarke says there has been uncertainty about the limits of life expectancy and the relevance of cardiovascular risk factors for its prediction. "What is unique about this study is the prolonged follow-up; it enables us to put a figure on the life-limiting effects of these risk factors," he told heartwire, we have all these new factors . . . when in fact these old risk factors explain much of the difference in life expectancy.

The study shows concordance with recent findings from the Physicians' Health Study in the US and "provides a stark illustration of the importance of these risk factors to reduce life expectancy," he adds.

All three risk factors associated with 10 to 15 years lower life expectancy

Data were collected from 18 863 men aged 40 to 69 who were working in the civil service in London when they were first examined in 1967-1970. They completed questionnaires and had a medical exam, including measurement of blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose concentrations, and height and weight, and answered questions about medical history, smoking habits, employment grades, and marital status.

The men were followed for 38 years: 13 501 died, and 4811 were reexamined in 1997.At entry, 42% of the men were current smokers, 39% had high blood pressure, and 51% had high cholesterol.

At the reexamination, about two-thirds of the previously "current" smokers had quit smoking shortly after entry, and the mean differences in levels of those with high and low levels of BP and cholesterol were attenuated by two-thirds. Despite this, compared with men without any baseline risk factors, the presence of all three risk factors at entry was associated with a 10-year shorter life expectancy from age 50 (23.7 vs 33.3 years). And compared with men in the lowest 5% of the risk score based on smoking, diabetes, employment grade, and continuous levels of BP, cholesterol concentration, and BMI, men in the highest 5% had a 15-year shorter life expectancy from age 50 (20.2 vs 35.4 years).
Prospective study, with large sample size and long follow-up
The study has several strengths in addition to the prolonged follow-up, say Clarke et al, including a prospective design, large sample size, availability of repeat measurements between middle and old age, a large number or deaths, and virtually complete mortality follow-up.

Limitations include the fact that total cholesterol concentrations were employed rather than cholesterol fractions or apolipoproteins, which are much stronger predictors of vascular mortality than total cholesterol, they note.

Also, the effects of BP and cholesterol on mortality might have been slightly underestimated because of increased use of aspirin, statins, and BP-lowering drugs during follow-up (in 1997, around a third of survey participants were taking aspirin and/or antihypertensives, although only 2% were taking statins)."

Continued public-health strategies to lower mean levels of the three main cardiovascular risk factors, together with more intensive medical treatment for 'high-risk' subgroups, including use of medication to lower blood pressure and cholesterol concentration, which have proven efficacy, could result in further improvements in life expectancy," they conclude.

Fuente original: theheart.org

SABIDURÍA Y NATURALEZA

1. Un país, una civilización se puede juzgar por la forma en que trata a sus animales (M. Gandhi)

2. De todos los animales de la creación el hombre es el único que bebe sin tener sed, come sin tener hambre y habla sin tener nada que decir (John SteinbecK)

3. Dos cosas me sorprenden, la inteligencia de las bestias y la bestialidad de los hombres (Flora Tirstán)

4. Hasta que no hayas amado a un animal, una parte de tu alma estará dormida (Anatole France)

5. Mientras el círculo de su compasión no abarque a todos los seres vivos, el hombre no hallará la paz por sí mismo (Albert Schweitzer, noble de la Paz 1952)

6. El amor por todas las criaturas vivientes es el más noble atributo del hombre (Ch. Darwin)

7. Verdaderamente, el hombre es el rey de los animales, pues su brutalidad supera a la de éstos (L. Da Vinci)

Vaccine lowers rate of HIV infection by over 30 percent

September 24, 2009

Final data from a Phase III trial showed that an experimental vaccine regimen lowered the rate of HIV infection in healthy volunteers by 31.2 percent compared to placebo, the US Army said Thursday. Eric Schoomaker, surgeon general of the US Army, which sponsored the study, said “this is the first vaccine candidate to successfully reduce the risk of HIV infection in humans.”
The study enrolled over 16 000 HIV-negative volunteers in Thailand aged 18 years to 30 years who were randomised to receive placebo or a “prime-boost” vaccination regimen consisting of sanofi-aventis’ ALVAC-HIV vCP1452 and a vaccine originally developed by VaxGen called AIDSVAX. The volunteers were administered placebo or four doses of the ALVAC vaccine and two doses of AIDSVAX over six months, and were then monitored for three years.
Results showed that HIV infections occurred in 51 of the 8197 volunteers given the vaccine regimen, compared to 74 of the 8198 volunteers who were administered placebo, a statistically significant result. Further data indicated that the vaccine regimen had no effect on the levels of HIV in the blood in those volunteers who became infected. The researchers said they do not understand exactly how the vaccine prevented infections or why it did not reduce viral load, with some calling this finding “one of the most important and intriguing.”
Michel DeWilde, senior vice president of research at Sanofi Pasteur, sanofi-aventis’ vaccine arm, called the results “the first concrete evidence…that a vaccine against HIV is eventually feasible,” however he cautioned that “further work is required to develop and test a vaccine suitable for licensure and worldwide use.” Further details from the study will be presented at a conference in October

Medical afflictions of the cartoon world !